For weeks, the students have converged on Johns Hopkins University, using their noodles. Given spaghetti as their medium, the students build bridges with the same design and calculations normally used for steel.

Then, it's all put into action. The brittle bridges are tested physically to see just how much weight they can hold, gradually adding weight to see which creation has the most support.

The excitement has program participants coming in from all over country.

"My friends are always like, 'You know, why are you going to school in the summer?' Well, it's just that I always want to learn, I always want keep learning new things, I want to explore what I like and see if there is something out there that I didn't even know existed. But I came here and found a ton of stuff that I love and I'm really thankful for that," said Caitlyn Cole, of Baton Rouge, La.

Whoever builds the bridge that supports the most weight wins a prize. This year's winning entry held 97 pounds. The record is 132 pounds.